Body of Missing 8-Year-Old Found

JACKSONVILLE | Officials said the body of Charish Perriwinkle, 8, was found Saturday morning. She went missing while shopping with her mother Friday night.

BAY NEWS 9

JACKSONVILLE | Officials said the body of Charish Perriwinkle, 8, was found Saturday morning. She went missing while shopping with her mother Friday night.

Detectives were trying to find Charish, who they believed may have been with 56-year-old Donald Smith, a registered sex offender who has been convicted in the past of kidnapping.

Officials said Charish's body was found at an unnamed church on Broward Road. They have not released further details. A news conference is scheduled for 3 p.m.

A sheriff's office spokesman told local media outlets in Jacksonville that Smith was taken into custody Saturday morning after officers surrounded his van.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, officers responded to the Walmart on 12100 Lem Turner Road in reference to the missing girl at 11 p.m.

Investigators said they determined the girl was taken from the store by an unknown man in a white van, and that the van was last seen heading south on Lem Turner Road.

Investigators then searched the area, including local motels and the known residences of sexual offenders and sexual predators, the report said.

Charish's mother provided detectives with a description of the suspect, which investigators then used to identify Smith as possible suspect, the report said. When Charish's mother was shown a photo of Smith, she identified him as the man who abducted her daughter, deputies said.

Investigators said they later learned that Smith had not been home since early Friday morning and that he was driving a white Dodge van similar to the one described by Charish's mother. At that point, investigators asked the public to be on the lookout for Smith or his van.